SCOTUS Watch

As Kavanaugh’s Accuser Comes Forward, the Great G.O.P. Sliming Begins

The right says tanking Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination would set a dangerous precedent—“If somebody can be brought down by accusations like this, then you, me, every man certainly should be worried,” said a lawyer close to the White House.

The sexual assault allegations against Brett Kavanaugh, which were cloaked in shadowy ambiguity last week, have since become an all-too-real headache for Republicans. The author of a redacted letter obtained by California Senator Dianne Feinstein, which Feinstein turned over to the F.B.I. to protect the woman’s identity, now has a name: college professor Christine Blasey Ford. And while Senate Republicans predicted she would not want to testify—“This gambit basically bets that she will decline, and Republicans can then say that they tried to investigate further,” G.O.P. strategists told Axios—that, too, is now out the window: after giving a brutal on-the-record interview to The Washington Post, Ford offered to give her sworn testimony, too. Trump’s Republican allies were left scrambling to close ranks and struggling, in the era of #MeToo, to develop messaging that is both convincing and palatable to voters, particularly women. As of Monday afternoon, according to Ford’s lawyer, Debra Katz, no sitting senator had approached Ford about testifying. But it seems like only a matter of time before she will be asked to deliver her side of the story. In the meantime, Trump’s acolytes are busily laying the groundwork to impugn her credibility.

Prior to the #MeToo movement, public figures accused of sexual harassment or assault could expect their allies to circle the wagons and assassinate the character of their accuser. But in an environment where more and more Americans are willing to listen to and believe those coming forward, the Republicans’ tactics—as well as those of their conservative allies—must strike a finer balance between calling the accuser into doubt, and protecting their own. For now, many have settled on attacking Democrats for bungling Ford’s allegation—according to The New Yorker’s Ronan Farrow, Feinstein, who received the letter earlier this summer, did not notify her colleagues about its contents, and did not initially share them when asked. As one congressional source told Farrow: “We couldn’t understand what their rationale is for not briefing members on this. This is all very weird.” After the Intercept revealed the letter’s existence last week, Feinstein’s equally ambiguous statement fueled Republicans’ insistence that Democrats were pulling desperate moves, leaning on a letter that even Feinstein hesitated to release.

Many of Trump’s conservative allies have likewise stuck to attacking Democrats. “Dianne, as the ranking member of the committee interviewing Kavanaugh, how could you possibly let a moment pass without addressing the issue, and Kavanaugh was right in front of you and would have had the opportunity to respond?” Jeanine Pirrodemanded on Fox over the weekend. “What were you thinking? Are you stupid? Why would you let it go?” Orrin Hatch, a fellow member of the Judiciary Committee, blasted the Democrats for “grossly mishandl[ing] these accusations,” and called for them to stick to Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley’s “original timeline.” An even the less-inhibited Donald Trump Jr. stuck to pillorying Feinstein, posting a mocking Instagram picture of a note written in crayon and calling it a “copy” of Feinstein’s letter. (Among those who “liked” the photo: Katrina Pierson,Kim Guilfoyle, and Diamond and Silk.)

A broader argument began to emerge as well, with conservative allies and some critics of the administration claiming that impugning Kavanaugh could set a dangerous precedent for confirmation battles. “If somebody can be brought down by accusations like this, then you, me, every man certainly should be worried. We can all be accused of something,” a lawyer close to the White House told Politico. RedState founder Erick Erickson made a similar point. “Honestly, at this point, the G.O.P. has to go to the wall for Kavanaugh or the Dems will have fully weaponized mere allegations as a method to destroy credible nominees,” he wrote on Twitter. “The precedent would be set and be too dangerous to future nominees. And we know the Dems would defend their own.”

It’s not at all clear, however, that lawmakers buy this rationale. Shortly after Ford offered to testify, Grassley suggested that both she and Kavanaugh speak separately with aides to the committee’s top members, and is reportedly attempting to arrange a conference call. By Monday afternoon, G.O.P. Senators Bob Corker and Jeff Flake had been joined in their calls to delay the vote on Kavanaugh by Rep. Roy Blunt, who called the allegations “serious” and said they “need to be looked at closely by the committee before any other action is taken,” and Susan Collins, who tweeted that “Professor Ford and Judge Kavanaugh should both testify under oath before the Judiciary Committee.” Collins is considered a crucial swing vote in Kavanaugh’s confirmation, as is Lisa Murkowski, who suggested on Monday that she may likewise be swayed to delay the vote: “This is not something that came up during the hearings. The hearings are now over, and if there is real substance to this, it demands a response,” she said. “That may be something the committee needs to look into.”

As with all things in this era, the right will eventually fall in line with Trump. And as of Monday, a White House source told Politico, the president does not plan on pulling the nomination. Three others in his orbit expect that Trump plans to address the allegations the same way he addressed the women who came out against him after the Access Hollywood tape went public: by attacking the accuser’s credibility. But others in the White House are urging a more cautious approach—per CNN’s Abby Phillip, they have no desire to alienate Murkowski and Collins by attacking Ford outright. “This woman should not be insulted, and she should not be ignored,” Kellyanne Conway said on Fox News. “I think the Senate is headed [toward] a reasonable approach . . . allowing this woman to be heard in sworn testimony, allowing Judge Kavanaugh to be heard in sworn testimony.” If Trump does intend to go full Access Hollywood on Ford, he’s holding his fire for now, telling pool reporters on Monday afternoon, “We want to go through a full process . . . and hear everybody out . . . if it takes a little delay, it’ll take a little delay. It will, I’m sure, work out very well.”

There is plenty at stake for Trump, should Kavanaugh falter. Republicans currently hold a single-seat majority in the Senate, and while midterm projections lean Republican, it’s not by much. In a world where court appointments have become overtly political (and where Trump himself ran on the promise of shoehorning a conservative judge onto the highest court in the land), a failure to seat a Trump-tapped, Heritage Foundation-vetted, Scalia-style conservative would likely erode the tenuous trust Republican voters have in their senators—not to mention the waning confidence that traditional Republicans, for whom control of the court is worth Trump’s many lapses in decorum, have in their president.